Wheeling, W. Va. – After playing their first 17 games of the season on the road, the Wheeling University Baseball team (11-8, 2-4) got to play on their home field for the first time this season on Sunday. They welcomed in West Virginia Wesleyan and had a big Home Opener as they earned their first sweep of the season. They came away with a 2-1 walk-off win in game one and followed it up with a 9-4 win to complete the sweep.

Game One: Wheeling 2, West Virginia Wesleyan 1 (8 Inn)

In their first game of the weekend, the Cardinals turned to their ace on the mound in right-hander Kody McCarley. He has been dominant over his first five starts of the season and continued his success this time around. He faced the minimum through the first three innings, with the only base runners he allowed being on a throwing error in the top of the second inning. They didn't get their first hit of the game until the top of the fourth inning. However, the Cardinals were having just as much luck against the Bobcats, with just two hits of their own through the first three innings of play. However, the offense would get going in the bottom of the fourth in what would be a game where time were hard to come by.

After a strikeout to start the inning, Thomas Kegerreis stepped to the plate and launched his second home run of the year to left field. It would give the Cardinals their first lead of the day behind a starting pitcher who was rolling. McCarley added 1-2-3 innings in the top of the fifth and sixth, and entered the seventh looking to close things out. He got a strikeout for the first out of the inning before an error allowed Devin Johnson to reach with one out. A single would move runners to first and second before they came through with an RBI single to tie the game at 1-1. The Cardinals could not score in the bottom of the seventh, and forced extra innings. McCarley would come back out for the eighth and allowed two walks before sending the game to the bottom of the eighth.

The bottom of the eighth started with a single from Christian Boyles and Scott Kondroik added a bunt single to move runners to first and second with nobody out. An intentional walk to Jacob Murray would load the bases for Lucas Rawlins, who came in to pinch hit for Spencer Craig. Rawlins came through in a big way, lining an RBI walk-off single to left, scoring Boyles and giving Wheeling their first walk-off win of the season. It was a special way to open their home schedule as they set themselves up for a sweep in game two.

Lucas Rawlins got one at-bat on the day and came through with his first walk-off hit of the season, finishing 1-1. Spencer Craig was the lone multi-hit Cardinal for the day, finishing 2-3, while Braeden KilleneS added his second home run of the year going 1-3 with the RBI. McCarley was the big star of the day, throwing a complete-game eight-inning effort. He allowed one run, no earned, on three hits while walking three and striking out nine batters.

Game Two: Wheeling 9, West Virginia Wesleyan 4

After getting off to a slow start in game one, the offense jumped right on the Bobcats in game two with four runs in the first inning. After two quick outs to start the inning, Jacob Murray drew a two-out walk to get things started. Braeden Killens followed immediately with a triple, bringing home Murray to make it a 1-0 Cardinal's lead. It started a train of three straight RBI hits as Lucas Rawlins doubled and Nicholas Ancelet added a single to put the Cardinals ahead 3-0. A wild pitch moved Ancelet up to second before the fourth RBI hit in a row saw Anthony May single to center to bring home Ancelet and make it a 4-0 Cardinal's lead after one inning. After a clean start to the game, Johendry Colmenares got tagged for three runs in the top of the second and it was a 4-3 game after two innings.

After allowing those three runs, Colmenares threw two scoreless innings before ending out his day. He ended up throwing four innings allowing three runs, two earned, on three hits while walking three and striking out three. His offense got him one more run before he left in the bottom of the third as Rawlins reached on a one-out single before advancing to second on a wild pitch. Ancelet came up and came through again with an RBI single to center that scored Rawlins and made it a 5-3 affair. After Colmenares left, Donovan Dubuisson struck out to start the inning before reaching on a wild pitch and was moved to second on a sacrifice bunt. After a flyout moved him to third, he would come home on a Kobe Hill single that made it 6-3. Jacob Murray followed with an RBI double and after four the Cardinals were staked to a 7-3 lead.

They made a call to the bullpen in the fifth and got a strong finish from senior relief pitcher Jacob Rife. Rife pitched the final 3.0 innings of the game to earn the save, allowing a run on two hits while walking two and striking out six. That one run was allowed in the top of the seventh with the righty retiring the side 1-2-3 in the sixth. Following that inning, the Cardinals got their final two runs as Pete Toula doubled to start the bottom of the second. Hill grounded out to move Toula to third and Murray brought him home with an RBI triple that made it 8-3. Murray would be brought home by a Killens single as the Cardinals took a 9-3 lead before going on to win by a 9-4 final score as they completed their first sweep of the season.

Three different Cardinals ended with two RBI on the day, including a 2-3 day with a triple and two RBI to lead the way. Nick Ancelet and Braeden Killens each added two RBIs on the day, and finished 2-4 on the night. The other RBIs came from Kobe Hill, Anthony May, and Lucas Rawlins to finish out the scoring. The Cardinals improved to 11-8 with a pair of wins on the day and 2-4 in MEC play. They look to even up their conference record on Monday with another doubleheader scheduled.

The Wheeling University Baseball team returns to action on Monday, March 27th, when they host Davis & Elkins with first pitch at 2 PM.